Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Inspiring and equally powerful, The Sensei is a film about tolerance, acceptance and the courage to stand against hate. Lonely gay teenager, McClain, struggles to fit in with his classmates in a small, conservative Colorado town. After he's severely beaten at school, Karen O'Neil (Diana Lee Inosanto, Actress & Stuntwoman, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), a martial arts Sensei, secretly trains him to defend himself. When the town discovers their secret, a series of catastrophic events unfolds. Co-starring Keith David and Louis Mandylor. <BR><BR> Special Feature(s): The Making of The Sensei

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I bought "The Sensei" as a stocking stuffer for my partner, a Bruce Lee fan whose early days training in martial arts included special sessions with Sensei Dan Inosanto and other instructors accredited in that style. We saw the film at the Seattle Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (I think 2009,) where we visited with the star and director, Sensei Diana Lee Inosanto, and my partner also got to greet her old sensei. "The Sensei" may not be a high-budget, flashy 5 star film, but the Inosantos have done so much for martial arts, and "The Sensei" conveys so many positive and heartening messages that it elevates the effort to a 5-star rating. This is especially true for young people, gay or straight, who may feel isolated or bullied. Diana Lee Inosanto is multi-talented, and she has a thoroughly appealing screen presence.

The story is many faceted, and explores issues of human nature in honest terms. The style and crafting of the story are not as slick as in a bigger budget Hollywood release, and overall we should probably be glad for that. But there has been a lot said already of the content of Sensei. I just wish to weigh in on the quality of this dvd issue.

During my first viewing I was put off a number of times about the visual quality, and puzzled that it seemed inconsistent with the otherwise nice production qualities. I am not the only one in reviews to note unusually dark scenes and also less clarity at times than are customary. I now realize that this dvd is simply not a good rendering of the original film If you watch the special features of this film you will see excerpts that make it quite evident that the original image quality is alright and not the same as we see in this dvd.

It is ONLY for the dvd quality that I reduced 1 star, and quite frankly I should have removed 2 stars for the quality issue, but the film is very much worth seeing. It is not the Karate Kid or other films that I grew up with, but one that is more likely to relate with and engage a young audience as well as others. The image quality is not really a deal breaker, but the film deserves better treatment and so does the customer.

I found a reviewer on IMDB whose taste in movies seems to be remarkably similar to mine. And he's reviewed like 200 titles. I've been slowly working my way through buying everything he's reviewed that sounds good to me, which is like 80% of the reviews. That's how I stumbled across THE SENSEI, which I am quite certain I never would have seen or heard of it otherwise, even if I lived a thousand years. There's really nothing quite as awesome as unexpectedly and totally accidentally discovering a movie that resonates with you in every way. I enjoyed THE SENSEI more than anything I've seen since HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH. This was just a really cool, heartfelt, cheesy, unique, movie that I would recommend to anyone who has an appreciation for low-budget indie gay-themed movies.

As a female martial artist, I was excited to see this film about an accomplished female martial artist who uses her skills to fight injustice. Themes include bullying, homophobia, racism, justice, HIV, sexism and changing gender roles. The fact that those themes were included made me like the film a lot. I would have liked the film better if the martial arts training and scenes had been more fully developed like they were in The Karate Kid. And, it wasn't evident until late in the film that it was taking place in the mid 1980's. The historical context of the film was important to understanding the surprise ending.

I purchased this movie after watching it on Hulu. Although I already felt this movie was heartwarming, after being able to sit down without any distractions I found myself at tears throughout most of the movie "Sensei". It not only caused me to cry it also made me think of the world it represents. AIDS is a topic for many closed behind doors but for others is a story of pain hardships and death. At first I thought this movie was a Gay movie and is to some extent but it is also a movie of strength and courage to overcome (or help overcome) the stigma of the AIDS virus, being straight or gay and life in general. Wonderful movie you should own for yourself. it will compliment your movie library.

Diana Inosanto has a fine work here. She uses the parallels of training stresses in the martial arts to deal w social stresses in a carefully crafted manner. Excellent use of a sweater as a weapon of defense in the film.

The Sensei is a very good story about a gay and bullied teen who, when growing up was not welcomed at the martial artsschool, and later turned to a woman expert, and became very adept at self-defense. The acting is rather mediocre, butthe story is excellent, and the film never really exaggerates the action, like so many in the genre do. This is more a messagefilm than a mass entertainment, and if you are interested in the subject matter, you will likely not be dissatisfied.

A very inspirational movie about an outcast martial arts woman who helps a bullied gay teenager to become a warrior. She inspires him to take charge of his life and beat the typical prejudices that happened during the aids pandemic propaganda that was prevalent in the 1980s. I wish they'd bring out a Blu-ray version of this film.